Eternally New - Isaiah 43:19
How about some Christmas
trivia?
When did the first
Christmas Tree come into use? Many sources point to the first decorated
Christmas Tree being found in Latvia in the year 1510.
When was the first Advent
Wreath used? It originated during the
Middle Ages, with formal rituals revolving around the Advent Wreath being in
place within Catholic and Lutheran traditions by the year 1600.
When was “Silent Night”
first sung? Christmas Eve of 1818
offered by assistant priest Joseph Mohr, as he scrambled to put a poem he had
written in 1816 to guitar music when the church’s organ failed to work in
preparation for the Christmas Eve worship.
When was “Hark The Herald
Angels” written? In 1737, Charles Wesley
composed this hymn, originally titled after the first line: “Hark! how all the
welkin rings, glory to the King of kings.”
The first line was later changed to “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” by
George Whitefield—much to Wesley’s displeasure.
These are all part of
what we would call Christmas traditions.
However, I would point out the lack of a decorated Christmas tree in
1509. No formal Advent Wreath
understandings in 1599. “Silent Night”
was not sung in 1817, nor “Hark! how all the welkin rings…” in 1736.
None of these wonderful
traditions we enjoy so much existed until over 1500 years after the birth of Jesus. How about the celebration of Christmas on
December 25th? Even the
celebration of the birth of Christ on December 25th was not observed
until over three hundred years after His birth.
At some point, each of these, and all of the things that we usually
think of as Christmas traditions were something new. Today, in song, we have celebrated some of
those traditional carols that were new at one point in history, along with some
new arrangements of those traditional songs, and even new songs themselves. Today we have done something new…
What’s with all the
emphasis on newness? Shouldn’t things
always stay the same? We tend to shy
away from new things. Some folks don’t
like to try new things. I mean some of
the most common words offered when something new is introduced are, “we’ve
never done it that way before.” In other
words, “don’t mess with our tradition.”
Those seven words, “we’ve never done it that way before,” are often
known as the seven last words of the church.
Why? Because when we refuse to
consider anything new, we deny the active work of God in the world today. You see, God, while He is, always has been, and
always will be, is not stagnate nor stale.
God is Eternally New—God is always about creating or doing something
that has not been before.
There was formless
void…there was nothingness...there was only darkness…and God did something
new—He said, “let there be light.” And
there was something new in creation, something that hadn’t existed before. Each day God continued to do something new,
and on the sixth day did something new that changed our lives forever…He
decided, after looking out upon all that He had created and decided to continuing
making something new as He decided to create humanity—making us in His own
image.
Hundreds of years later,
when many in the world had gone their own ways, God decided to do something up
and raise up a family to become a nation, that they might turn all the eyes of
all nations toward Himself, and so He called Abram.
Years later when
Abraham’s descendants found themselves in captivity in Egypt, God decided to do
something new and intervened to save them from their captors. He did something new…sending Moses to
represent God Himself to the Pharaoh.
As the people wandered in
the wilderness following their flight out of Egypt, and grumbled about being
hungry, God gave the people something new to eat, creating manna along the
ground.
Years later when the
people found themselves in captivity once more, the prophet Isaiah offered
these words from God, “Forget about what’s happened; don’t keep going over old
history. Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new.”
He did that new thing in
Jesus…never before had anyone heard of a god who would step down from heaven,
enter the world as a vulnerable baby and then, as an adult, offer His own life
as atonement for our sin.
God’s eternally new works
did not stop there, though. Paul reminds
us that God continues to do something new when he writes, “If anyone is in
Christ, behold, there is a new creation.”
When we surrender our lives over to God, God takes our old lives and
recreates them into something completely new…filling our lives with His Holy
Spirit and giving us new life centered in Christ.
God promises through His
revelation to John that He is not done with newness, as the New Heaven and New
Earth come together to form the New Jerusalem, and God’s words reach out to
John, “See, I am making all things new.”
Until that day comes, we
celebrate the new things He brings into our world through each of us, and all
who follow Christ, for created in His image, we too are creators, we too are innovators,
using the gifts of His Spirit to bring new things into the world that don’t
point to us, but point to Him…the God unchanging God that is Eternally New…so
this Christmas, as we celebrate the “new born king” let us look for the new
ways God is moving in each of our lives.
In the Name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…Amen.
Comments
Post a Comment